ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
“We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”
– JUSTICE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
MESSAGE FROM THE INSTITUTE DIRECTOR
As incoming Institute director my priority will be defending American democracy and working toward a political system the works for everyone – not just the wealthy and well-connected. I am committed to continuing the Institute’s important work bridging academia and practice, ensuring that scholarship informs action and that real-world experience informs research. The Institute’s substantive agenda will include issues of authoritarian government and democratic backsliding, oligarchy, political corruption, social movements and mass mobilization, attacks on gender and racial equality, corporate political advocacy, and the political attitudes and civic engagement of American youth.
History
The UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy was launched in 2016 by faculty director, Ananya Roy with the mandate to organize knowledge to challenge inequality. From 2016 to 2026, the Institute undertook research and scholarship in accompaniment of movements and communities on the frontlines of dispossession and displacement in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the world. Led by Professor Ananya Roy and associate faculty directors, Professors Hannah Appel and Kian Goh, such work focused on housing justice, sanctuary spaces, the future of finance, and climate justice, and took the form of insurgent research collectives, reparative public goods, and liberatory knowledge. Learn more about previous research and programs, publications, and events here.
Photography
Images featured on this website have been generously provided by: Brittany Bravo, Steven Chun, Amanda Darouie, City of Vancouver Archives, Debt Collective, Filomena Cruz, Les Dunseith, Justin Gaar, Angela Garcia, Roberto Gudiño, La Hidra Cooperativa, Aaron Julian, Anthony Orendorff, Stan Paul, Right to Remain Collective, UCLA Library Special Collections, Taymaz Valley, Talesha Wilson
Land Acknowledgement
The UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.
Click on the linked words to hear the pronunciation for the Tongva-language words.
